Bulletin No. 2015–40 October 5, 2015

Notice 2015–59, page 459. This notice is issued concurrently with Rev. Proc. 2015–43, page 467, this Bulletin, and announces that the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (Service) are studying issues under §§ 337(d) and 355 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) relating to certain distributions, described in § 355 of the Code, in which property becomes the property of a regulated investment company or a real estate investment trust, the active business is small relative to other assets, or there is a substantial amount of investment assets. The notice describes the transactions that concern the Treasury Department and the Service and requests comments concerning those transactions.

Notice 2015–64, page 464. 2015 Section 43 Inflation Adjustment: The notice announces the inflation adjustment factor and phase-out amount for the enhanced oil recovery credit for taxable years beginning in the 2015 calendar year. The format of the notice is identical to the format of previously published notices on this issue. The notice concludes that because the reference price for the 2014 calendar year ($87.39) exceeds $28 multiplied by the inflation adjustment factor for the 2014 calendar year ($28 multiplied by 1.6245 - $45.49) by $41.90, the enhanced oil recovery credit for qualified costs paid or incurred in 2015 is phased out completely. The notice also contains the previously published figures for taxable years beginning in the 1991 through 2014 calendar years.

Notice 2015–65, page 466. 2015 Marginal Production Rates: The notice announces that under § 613A(c)(6)(C) of the Internal Revenue Code, the applicable percentage for purposes of determining percentage depletion on marginal properties for calendar year 2015 is 15 percent. The format of the notice is identical to the format of notices previously published on this issue.

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T.D. 9737, page 449. This document contains final rules with revisions to examples that illustrate the controlled group rules applicable to regulated investment companies (RICs). The revised examples illustrate how the controlled group rules affect the RIC asset diversification tests.

T.D. 9738, page 453. Temporary regulations clarify the coordination of transfer pricing rules with other Internal Revenue Code provisions.